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Updated 4:30 p.m. with comments from Civil Rights Division and react - A 20-month investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice has found the St. Louis County Family Court violates the constitutional rights of children in its custody.

The city could pay developer Paul McKee for his redevelopment rights, as well as his land, if the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency chooses the north city site. St. Louis Development Corporation executive director Otis Williams confirmed that this week. He told St. Louis Public Radio the city is negotiating with McKee over both.

A St. Louis non-profit dedicated to supporting African-American families is holding its annual warrant amnesty project this week.

Better Family Life has made arrangements with more than 50 area municipalities to clear outstanding warrants for traffic and misdemeanor charges. St. Louis County warrants for outstanding child support can also be cleared.

After stopping at the VA medical center in Jefferson Barracks, U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said he’s continues to be concerned about the long waiting lists of veterans seeking treatment.

Blunt says he’s particularly worried about growing delays in treating combat-related mental illness and emotional problems. He says the VA should be responding quickly to help veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorders, and should be committed to offering the nation’s best treatments.

Musicologists have had a field day divvying up the operas of the towering Italian genius Giuseppe Verdi. “Rigoletto” -- performed this weekend with artistic muscle and dramatic agility by Union Avenue Opera – is pigeonholed in his middle period, along with the Il trovatore and La traviata.

Yet this opera, one of the most reptilian works in the musical repertory, slithered out from under its middle period rock to establish itself as one of the most powerful, most disturbing and most thoroughgoingly affecting works of art of any period, in any medium.

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., believes Medicare needs a few tweaks, but must remain to provide health care coverage to the tens of millions of Americans.

A panel largely made up of local medical experts agreed with her. “Medicare has been very successful in achieving its basic mission,” said Brit Pim, Vice President & General Manager of Government Programs for Express Scripts Inc.

If you’re one of the thousands of die-hard fans of Dexter Morgan, vigilante serial killer, you may not be familiar with Jeff Lindsday; but you nevertheless owe him quite a lot.

Lindsay is the author of the original books from which the immensely popular Showtime series “Dexter” are based, and the creator of the series’ anti-hero. He spoke on “Cityscape” about Dexter’s final book, “Dexter Is Dead,” and about his experience as the author of its murderous but oddly beloved main character.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, is appointing Rep. Lacy Clay, D-University City, to the House Natural Resources Committee. “Since my earliest days in the U.S. House, I’ve been a dedicated advocate for cleaning up contaminated sites, stronger clean air and water standards, and protecting our precious forests, coastlines and wilderness refuges,” Clay said, in a statement released from his office.

It’s not only that coal-burning companies Ameren Missouri, Peabody Energy, and Arch Coal are headquartered in St. Louis, or that statewide battles have been waged over coal burning and the storing of ash.

The former state senator worked at the public service commission back in the 1980s. There, she was a clerk who certified trucks that traversed across the state.

Flash forward to Thursday, and Coleman is about to return to the agency that regulates public utilities – but on a different level. Gov. Jay Nixon tapped Coleman to serve as a PSC commissioner, effective Aug. 10. She replaces Robert Kenney, a St. Louis attorney who was nearing the end of his six-year stint on the PSC.